8 Arrested, 4 Beaten at Miami Trade Talks

[mbperrin]

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20031122_1367.html

MIAMI Nov. 22 — Eight legal observers sent to monitor Miami police during trade protests were arrested, and four were beaten by officers, their organization said Saturday as dozens of protesters were issued bond.
Heidi Boghosian, executive director of the National Lawyers Guild, said her group of legal observers had been targeted by police, a claim disputed by Miami police spokesman Delrish Moss.

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Wearing those neon green hats might not have been the best, eh?

[Warpy]

1. Those overreacting cops are our best friends

What effect do you think Gandhi would have had if the British had merely ignored him and written him off as a crank? The point of civil disobedience is to provoke an overreaction by the thugs in power. This is how we get sympathy, how we show what THEY are, and how we get basic publicity.

Anyone who engages in peaceful civil disobedience has to realize that, yes, the authorities will often overreact and some of us will get hurt. That's rather the point, to point out the differences between us and them, while getting loads of sympathetic publicity for us and making them look like what they are.

Authoritarian thugs can never manage to ignore peaceful protests. First, they intimidate. Then they try to sabotage the whole thing, provoking street violence through operatives. The idea is to be alert to both tactics, to use the other to our benefit and isolate and defuse the latter.

This is why they can't win. They can't beat or kill an idea.

[0007]

2. I hope your not trying to be funny?

Because I believe the police were out of line no matter what these folks were wearing.

[mbperrin]

3. No, I guess I was trying to point out

that identifying yourself as a lawyer who's there to monitor illegalities might irritate a few of those who are considering them! It's not funny, it's just ironic.

Those that want the law upheld make sure they can be ID'd. Those in charge of upholding the law officially do ID them and beat hell out of them.

Not funny.

But ironic.

OK?

[deutsey]

4. Democracy Now! Producer Arrested/Released (Action needed)

DEMOCRACY NOW! SPECIAL ALERT

was arrested Friday evening while covering the FTAA protests in Miami. We thank
the listeners and viewers who responded to our action alert last night and
called officials demanding her release. She was released early Saturday
morning. For full coverage on the FTAA protests tune into Democracy Now!]

Early this morning I was sitting in a jail cell in Miami, cold, hungry and
trying to ignore the cockroaches crawling on the floor of the cell. My clothes
had been taken away from me and thrown out because they reeked of pepper spray.

I was arrested because I had not embedded myself with the Police Department
before doing my job of covering the protests for the nationally syndicated
public radio and tv program Democracy Now! Instead, I was swept up late Friday
afternoon with about 70 others as we tried to obey an order to disperse from an
"unlawful" jail solidarity rally.

Mine is not an isolated case. Four other independent reporters were arrested
with me and three of them remain in jail: Jeanette Lee and Michael Medow, both
of Michigan Independent Media Center, as well as an IMC reporter who goes by
the name of Winter. Todd Price, a Madison, WI, journalist who was formerly the
executive director of community television station WYOU, was arrested with me
but has been released.

In addition, Justin Lipson of the NYC IMC Video Team was arrested on Thursday
and is being held on a $10,000 bond. Police smashed his camera and have charged
him with two felonies. Miami New Times staff writer Celeste Fraser Delgado was
also arrested on Thursday while trying to interview protesters. Her purse and
press credentials were left at the scene of her arrest.

I am out now thanks entirely to the pressure that Democracy Now! supporters and
staff put on the jail to release me. If not for all the emails and phone calls
the police received demanding my immediate release, I would still be there.
However, I am still facing charges and will most likely have to return to Miami
to appear in court.

I thank everyone who stood up for the right of independent media today and
contacted the jail urging them to release me. But there is more we need to do.
Our colleagues in Miami are receiving disturbing reports of ongoing abuse of
prisoners inside the jail, including severe beatings, being held in a cold room
with no toilet, getting cold-showered every two hours. People of color and
transgender people feel that they were specifically targeted. We must all act
now to demand that the torture stop and all charges against the journalists be
dropped.

Please, tell everyone you possibly can to call the numbers below to demand the
release of Jeanette Lee, Michael Medow, Winter, and Justin Lipson, the dropping
of all charges against journalists, and the fair treatment of all prisoners.

-- Ana Nogueira, Democracy Now! producer

= = = = = = = = = =
ACTION:

Call/Email These Authorities:

Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center (TGK)
305-470-7636 or 305-470-7600 (Press 2 for TGK, then 7 for booking or 9 for shift
commander)

The Joint Task Force on Law Enforcement
Major Role (cell): 305-216-6594

FTAA Miami Unified Command Joint Information Center
Phone: [phone]

Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas
[e-mail]

City of Miami Mayor Manuel A. Diaz
Telephone: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]
Janet Lopez, Director Office of Communications
Phone: [phone]
Pager:305-312-2981

= = = = = = = = =
Tune in to Democracy Now! Radio & TV on Monday for a complete report:
http://www.democracynow.org